I have the great honor of joining Pesh and Candace in marriage on August 9th. I am delighted that they gave me permission to post their engagement story on my blog for you to enjoy! A few days after their wedding, I will be posting photos of their wedding for you to marvel over!!

I met Candace and her mom, Diana at a wedding show when they stopped by my booth to hear me play. Even though I meet so many people at wedding shows, I remember the lovely conversation we had and how much I enjoyed speaking with Candace and her mom. A few days later, I was introduced to Candace’s fiance, Pesh (Rupesh). It is exciting for me to work with them because their wedding is not only a union of two beautiful people but also a union of two cultures - very much like my own. With Pesh’s heritage being Indian, we discussed incorporating some Bollywood tunes to personalize their wedding music. I for one, can’t wait for their wedding day to see the wonderful elements of the two cultures blend together and see them start their new life as husband and wife.

- Udeshi Hargett

(Udeshi is a very talented violinist with whom I frequently do weddings. She will be providing her beautiful music for Pesh and Candace's wedding and I am looking forward to the Bollywood tunes!)

How they met:

Pesh and Candace first met in May 2010 at Raleigh Times in downtown Raleigh. Though both had come with friends, they only had eyes for each other. Candace saw him walking towards her as the proverbial tall, dark and handsome man, and immediately garnered an introduction through a mutual friend, Courtney Wileman. She was happy that she didn't have to resort to 'accidentally bumping' into him to meet him and instead got to spend the night getting to know him and sharing her cheese fries with him, a fact that Pesh to this day remembers. For his part, he spent the night admiring her beauty and scenting her hair and perfume from the slight breeze that day. They had a great and easy conversation with NO awkwardness, a great starter to a great relationship.

The Proposal:

It happened on a typical Friday at work for Candace. While a proposal had been in the works for the couple, Candace had no clue what was going to come. However, she was the only one. Pesh, her extremely dedicated fiancee, not only had a day long outing planned, but was also involving Candace’s family and friends in it.

Nothing spells devotion more than being in cahoots with friends and family, that’s for certain.

Back to the proposal; the beginning of the ride involved her Mom. As her boss at work, she gave Candace quite a scare when she told her to come to her office and hand in Candace’s phone to her. After reluctantly handing in the phone, Candace was sad that she wouldn’t be able to indulge in her texting with Pesh for the day; but that hesitation was quickly overshadowed by what came next.

Her Mom handed her a folder and inside the folder was a camera and a letter. The letter was from Pesh and the camera was to video her responses to the questions in the letter out loud. It started out extremely sweet with Pesh asking her if she was well, and then stating that there was absolutely no facebook, solitaire, twitter, instagram, emails, and texting for her for the day, and finally, an I love you. While most of the questions were pretty basic, the best one was where Candace had to spell Pesh’s last name - Prajapati - backwards three times. She completely failed that before her mom gave a pencil to write it out!

Then came the next step. She walked back into her office, and there sitting at her desk giggling was her best-friend (now Maid of Honor) Samantha Bradley. Candace was shocked, yet again when she was told that she had to be blindfolded, but she still ran with it.

I call that guts.

Samantha blindfolded her and drove her in a truck all the way to Frankie’s Fun Park in Raleigh, a place full of memories for the young couple. She got out of the truck and Samantha yelled “SURPRISE!” Candace was like surprise what? What are we doing here and she kind of laughed and said, “Don't you want to play games with me?” She played along and ended up having a great day with shooting basketballs and riding go-carts, even answering further questions of Pesh on video pretty well. Then they got back into the truck and headed to their next destination: a deli shop.

Jason’s Deli in Cary was a sandwich shop that Pesh and Candace often went to; so no surprise there that that’s where Pesh next led Candace to. The only thing different from the shop was the girl, Tini - Pesh’s sister - standing in front of it. They hugged and went inside to order lunch. After eating, Tini, pulled out a camera and recorded more questions about Pesh where Candace nearly got stumped on a question regarding a certain car he used to drive; finally she got the lightbulb over her head, answered it, and moved onto the next destination.

Candace getting pampered at the nail salon with her mom and friends

This time, Candace got to re-meet her Mom who was standing in front of her in another parking lot of a nail salon. Pesh, smart guy he is, arranged a girl’s night out - in this case, afternoon - with the most important women in Candace’s life right then: her Mom, her best friend, and future sister-in-law.

A male scheduling girl bonding. True love right there.

Her Mom joined in Samantha’s and Tini’s fun by rolling down the window as they were driving through a parking lot. A random lady passing by made their day by asking Candace, “are you okay? You’re not being kidnapped are you?” The rest of the people just walked by, pretending that they didn’t see a thing. Oh the heroes of the world where art thou? A little bit later, Candace was walked into a store and escorted up an elevator - all the while blindfolded. A couple more steps and the untying of the blindfold later, Candace opened her eyes to see her sweet college friend, Ashley Mooney (her now bridesmaid) in front of her. After the customary hugging and kissing, Candace discovered that she was in front of Pandora at Crabtree Mall. Apparently Pesh had set this up for her to pick out whatever charm she wanted, another gift from him to her.

The blindfold was put on again, but this time, the next location was only a couple steps away - The Cheesecake Factory.

The girls stopped at Cheesecake Factory for appitizers and a drink

Let me just say: Go-carting at a fun park, lunch at a deli-shop, girl’s time mani-pedi, and then a Pandora charm?? Oh you lucky, lucky girl.

While enjoying cheesecakes while having more girl bonding time, Candace was most definitely stressing out about what was going to happen next. She had an inkling that a proposing was on the way but Pesh had kept her on toes for so much that day that she was just a bundle of nerves. She couldn’t stop mentioning about wanting to go home and getting dressed as everyone else was, and as everything else, Pesh made sure that little detail was taken care of just like her nails. Candace got to finally leave the Cheesecake Factory with explicit instructions to be ready at 8:15PM sharp for her date. Her ride Ashley did a pretty neat job getting her home on time and steering her into a gorgeous dress that showcased her beauty inside and out.

At last 8:15 arrived and Candace was still high on nerves and excitement. She fully expected Pesh to be picking her up, so she was slightly surprised to find an older gentleman in formal dress looking for a ‘Miss Candace.’ She answered yes and was asked to follow him; she fully expected Pesh to be seated in the limo when she walked in, but there was also a disappointment. James, the driver drove down roads familiar to the couple, since they had recently signed a lease to move into a beautiful townhouse in the same neighborhood that the limo turned into. At this point, Candace finally figured out that this was going to be THE NIGHT, and her nervousness disappeared to be replaced by full-on excitement!

James got out the car first and rolled out a red carpet for her to walk on before at last getting to meet Pesh. She walked through the townhouse they arrived at - the one where the future couple will get to live - wearing a huge smile just for Pesh. She opened the back porch door and there he stood, finally, with about thirty candles or so surrounding him

They immediately hugged and Pesh asked her how her day was, and she replied with how much fun and yet exhausting it was. Then after he asked her to step back and put her purse down, he got down on one knee, told her how absolutely amazing she was and how much his life had changed with her in it, pulled out a ring, and popped the question: “Candace Gayle, will you marry me?” He couldn’t stop smiling and she couldn’t stop yelling YES!

In the back porch of Pesh and Candace's new townhouse where Pesh got down on one knee and asked Candace to marry him

They hugged and kissed and blew out the candles before leaving for the last part of the day. Before getting into the limo, Pesh lifted her hand and said “James, my man, she said yes!” And James replied, “very good Mr. Pesh.” It was like a scene out of a movie.

The end of the day turned out to be a part celebrating the engagement with the couple’s closest friends after calling both pairs of parents and Tini to relay the exciting news. A typical Friday at work turned out to be one of the best memories of a girl’s life for Candace!

The Wedding:

Candace and Pesh both are interested in combining both their cultures into a timeless wedding. They love unique ceremonies and Pesh sees it as a sign that humanity is becoming more accepting of current times, a regard I fully second. Their theme is going to be mostly romantic/classic with soft colors and a warm atmosphere to welcome their guests. After dinner finishes, it’s time to dance, which Candace expects to be very colorful and loud. A lovely compliment to the ceremony as the bride is to the groom.

If you enjoyed reading this post, please leave a comment and your well wishes for Pesh & Candace. We want to hear from you! If you would like to contact Udeshi Hargett please send us a message atinfo@raleighviolinist.com / www.raleighviolinist.com, 252-292-1307, Facebook or find us on any other social media channel.